The present disclosure generally relates to power transmission devices for automotive vehicles. More particularly, a dual clutch multi-speed transaxle is disclosed.
A number of dual clutch transmissions have been designed to transfer power from an engine to a driveline. Some of these transmissions include concentric input shafts. Based on the arrangement of the input shafts, speed gears and various clutch components, odd numbered speed gears such as first, third and fifth may be connected to a first input shaft. A second input shaft is connected to the even numbered speed gears such as second, fourth, sixth and possibly reverse gear.
Such dual clutch transmissions may include spaced apart speed gearsets each having two or more meshed gears for each forward drive ratio that is provided. Accordingly, a transmission having eight forward drive ratios and one reverse drive ratio is equipped with eight speed gearsets used in combination with at least one countershaft and at least one reverse gear. The resulting transmission may be relatively long and costly to manufacture. The weight of this transmission may also be greater than desired.